Keeping people informed

There are many different external stakeholders that a finance leader needs to keep informed on the progress of your company. These include investors, banks, customers, suppliers, auditors and regulators. Each group has a different interest in the company and requires different information to make informed decisions.

In this lesson, we will discuss why it is so important to keep external stakeholders informed on your company’s progress, and we will provide some tips on how to do so effectively.

Importance

Your external stakeholders will only have limited knowledge of what is happening in your business. Some of this may be based upon what they read in the media, however most of it will be based on whatever you tell them.

As a result, finance leaders must communicate with your external stakeholders on a regular basis to keep them informed of your company’s progress. Here are five reasons why this is so important:

1. It helps maintain a positive relationship with those stakeholders.
2. They will have a better understanding of your strategic objectives and key challenges.
3. Regular communication can help avoid any surprises or problems down the road.
4. You will increase their confidence in your ability to deliver your business plan.
5. They are more likely to help you when required if you communicate regularly.

Many finance leaders find it hard to prioritize regular communication whilst you are also battling with lots of urgent tasks. However, it is an essential part of your role and you should set reminders to do this on a regular basis. You may also need to occasionally schedule urgent conversations to explain the facts behind any negative or incorrect stories that appear in the public domain.

How to communicate

One way to keep external stakeholders informed of your company’s progress is to have regular update meetings. During these meetings, you can provide an overview of the company’s recent performance and discuss any changes to the business plan. You can also use this time to answer any questions that stakeholders may have.

Another way to keep them informed is to send out regular reports. These reports should include financial information such as revenue, expenses and profits. They should also include non-financial information such as progress against milestones and key performance indicators. Before sending these reports, try to anticipate what they are most likely to want to know. You may wish to review previous meeting notes and consider the themes covered in their past questions.

You can also use social media to keep external stakeholders informed of your company’s progress. This can be done by sharing updates on Twitter, LinkedIn or other platforms. You can also use social media to answer questions from stakeholders. This will only be appropriate for certain types of updates as much of your information will be confidential. However, this can be a great way of sharing key milestone achievements that you want everybody to know about. For example, entering a new market or customer satisfaction scores.

Finally, you can always pick up the phone and give stakeholders a call. This is a personal way to stay in touch and update them on your company’s progress. People always respond well to a personal conversation and will appreciate the efforts that you have made towards keeping in touch with them.

Summary

By following these tips, finance leaders can develop trusted relationships with your external stakeholders and ensure that they are always kept informed on the progress of your company against its business plan. This keeps you in control of what they hear about your company and helps to generate their confidence in your ability to deliver the business plan.